Rhythm and Blues (U.K. 2000)

The Gist:

In London, an attractive man named John befriends a skinhead, Byron, and though Byron in extremely swift order: is convinced he should be become a hustler; joins a gay male escort service; and is chosen for hire by an older, eccentric, rich American called Bad Daddy for a night of debauchery. As all this is going on a mysterious serial killer hustler, "The Rent Boy Ripper," is murdering his clients.

Comments:

First off, the movie is largely bad. It's a gay, hustler, murder thriller, comedy; and it doesn't particularly "do" any of those adjectives very well. 

There are occasional humorous moments, but overall the movie is not that funny. The thriller / mystery part of the story alternates between being mildly interesting and boring. The acting ranges from bad to adequate, which is not helped by occasionally confusing dialogue. That last bit is in reference to dialogue / editing, as the movie has people occasionally referencing conservations that only take place in deleted scenes. 

Negatives aside, the movie has an odd charm to it, a sort of low budget, sad, Britishness to it that made me not mind how bad it was. Then again maybe I didn't mind that the movie sucked because I think Paul Blackthorne (John) is hot. 

Regardless of how prurient thoughts affected my judgement, the movie is not worth watching. Unless you're into comedic hustler thrillers that aren't particularly humorous, thrilling, or good that is. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

Women, yes. 
Men, teasingly nearly, but no actual nudity 

• Director: Stephen Lenhoff
• Writer: Michael Jones
• Actors: Angus MacInnes, Ian Henderson, Paul Blackthorne
• 98 min
• IMDB

Hold Your Peace (U.S. 2011)

The Gist:

Grouchy guy Aiden is asked by his grumpy ex-boyfriend Max to be his best man at his upcoming commitment ceremony / wedding to Forrest. Thing is Aiden is single, and worse still in love with Max. In order to not appear totally lame Aiden, asks his best friend's other gay friend Lance to go with him to the commitment ceremony / wedding and pretend to be his new boyfriend Brick. There Lance/Brick immediately falls for Max's fiancé Forrest, and pretty much what you expect to happen happens.

Comments (with a major spoiler that in reality is not):

The problem with "pretty much what you expect to happen happens" is not that the story is predictable, but that that it was told badly. The production is uneven, the acting is all over the place from bad to adequate, and the characters are boring. Well, at least the leads are. 

Part of this is that both protagonist Aiden and his ex-boyfriend Max are rude jerks. You can see when the story switches gears and goes to "Aiden's learned his lesson so feel sorry for him now," but you never move away from thinking he's annoying (or at least I never did).

Aside from two bothersome guys, there's fiancé Forest, who is played as perfect, and effeminate twink Lance/Brick who might have been interesting if the script hadn't called for him to spend most of his onscreen time weeping. The advice giving female best friend ends up being the least annoying of the characters, but that's not saying much. 

The major spoiler is this, not that the couples you know will end up together end up together, but that it happens suddenly right at the end of the story. With a snap of the fingers, poof everyone is running off with who they should be with no attempt at dialogue or explanation. Not even the expected "Hey I know we were supposed to get married but i've fallen in love with someone else, sorry 'bout that." While going off in an unexpected direction can be good, in the case it feels more like lazy writing. 

So uninteresting characters in an obvious story that is told poorly. Not surprisingly I wouldn't recommend watching it. 

Women:

Several, though primarily in one scene only. 

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Wade McDonald 
• Writer: Wade McDonald 
• Actors: Chad Ford, Scott Higgens, Aleisha Force
• 96 min
• Note: I have not dealt with the Bechdel test in these write ups. Simplified, the test asks if a work includes at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Frankly most of the movies I talk about here would fail to pass due to lack of female roles. This movie passes because during a bachelor party scene the guests, mainly women, are ALL far more interested in getting drunk than in congratulating the "happy couple." The fact that the minor characters don't even care about the lead roles amuses me more than it should. 
• IMDB

Love's Coming (ใช่รักหรือเปล่า)(Thailand 2014)

The Gist:

Four teenage boys, Zee, Arm, Pid, and Gump are best friends, and things are great, except that Gump hasn't been around lately because he is always too busy tutoring his neighbor Nai. Because of this sudden prioritizing of his hot male neighbor over his friends, Zee begins to wonder if Gump is gay, so he gets the group, and a gay 'uncle' (who prefers to be called Aunt Alexandra), to come up with a series of overly complicated plans to find out the truth about Gump and Nai.

Comments:

It's a largely cute movie with a plot that doesn't make too much sense because instead of a series of ever more elaborate traps and goofy shenanigans to get Gump to come out of the closet, they could have simply just asked him at the beginning of the story if he was in love with Nai or not. Then again that would have made for a very short movie. As is, this is wacky teen comedy so some silliness is to be expected. Also, these are teenage boys, more so straight teenage boys, and teenage boys are known for doing stupid things, so this is less of an issue here as compared to other movies where everything could have been resolved in ten minutes had people just actually talked to each other like real adults instead of movie adults. 

Which leads us to 'Aunt Alexandra.' He's very much a movie version a person, more so a movie version of a camp gay man. Luckily he's written just slightly deep enough to be more than just someone to be laughed at. You get to sympathize with him as well. 

While he isn't really an issue for me, there are some problematic "comedic" scenes. The most glaring being when, as part of the "is he or isn't he" hijinks, the straight teen boys find themselves at a pool with some speedo wearing gay guys showing off their bodies. The boys reaction to the sight of non-hetero men wanting to be objectified is to freak out and get physically ill. Gay panic is funny you all. Yes. Sarcasm. 

Despite this and some other clunker scenes, for the most part the movie is harmless fluff, and mostly positive as it becomes clear that the boys care about their friend Gump and will support him whatever the truth turns out to be. 

Women: 

Mothers, and a girlfriend, so yes

People of Color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No. Though there are lots of shots of shirtless and swimsuited Thai guys if you're into that. 

• Director: Naphat Chaithiangthum
• Writer: Naphat Chaithiangthum
• Actors: Korn Khunaitpapisiri, Suraphat Kirivichien, Norrapat Sakulsong, Chanon Santinatornkul, Suttinut Uengtrakul
• 108 min
• Thai
• IMDB 

The Foxy Merkins (U.S. 2013)

The Gist:

A young naive gay kid, new to hustling, is shown the ropes by a more experienced hustler and they make a connection, becoming friends and more, despite the more experienced hustler being, or at claiming to be, straight, as they do what they can to survive the tough life on the streets. 

Now take the cliche filled hustler movie you've pictured in your head and turn into a comedy with adult women in place of skinny gay twinks. 

Comments:

The movie was made by the same people who did Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. This time instead of low budget, extremely quirky and decidedly odd comedy riffing on bad 50's sci-fi movies, we have  a low budget, extremely quirky and decidedly odd comedy riffing on hustler movies. 

The two leads have great chemistry together, and overall it's a funny movie, though given the subject matter it helps if you're familiar with the genre, specifically Midnight Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. Many of the jokes and situations only really make sense if you are familiar with the source material, otherwise the requisite "search to find my lost mother" or the required "men are incapable of loving another man" speech are not so much funny as just confusing. Although in case with the reversed genders it's now "women can't love other women," which comes off as very strange and nonsensical, and presumably is part of the intent and source of much of the humor. Other jokes, such as having the clothing store Talberts be THE place for lesbian prostitutes to hang out at are a bit more straightforward.

While I enjoyed it, it's not exactly a great movie. It does have a lot of issues. Not all the jokes are funny, some, such as the harassing cops sequence go on for too long; and there is no real plot, just our leads drifting in a vaguely Private Idaho direction with occasional Midnight Cowboy imagery. The basic idea of the movie is a problem as well, as unlike the Science Fiction of Codependent Lesbian Space Alien, not everyone has seen hustler movies which limits its audience to a large extent. 

So while I liked it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. At least not without a lot of caveats. That you be a fan of quirky low budget movies. That you can easily ignore the lack of plot. That you know your hustler movies. But mainly that you have a very odd-ball sense of humor, because this is no where near 'normal' comedy territory.

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes 

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Madeleine Olnek
• Writers: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Madeline Olnek
• Actors: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan
• 81 min
• IMDB

Go Go G-Boys (Dang Wo Men Tong Zai Yi Qi) (Taiwan 2006)

The Gist:

Hong decides to pretend to be gay and join the "gays only" G-Boys contest, hoping to use the winnings to pay off his ever increasing credit card debt incurred by his shopaholic girlfriend. His best friend Shin joins the contest because being gay he is of course hopelessly in love with Hong and will do anything for him, since that's exactly what the gays do; martyr themselves whenever possible for straight dudes. 

As this is going on other things are happening. Minor unimportant stuff like a crazy man threatening to bomb the contest. 

Comments:

I spent a few minutes looking around online for information about the movie and didn't find too much, and no actual professional reviews. What I did find were people commenting how funny the movie was, how sexy the actors were, and how much they loved finally finding a non-depressing gay movie with a happy ending.

I guess I'm a stick in the mud because while admittedly the leads are cute, I thought the movie was bad. 

The story is flat and considering it is a romantic comedy it is not that funny, despite all the crazy, wild antics going on. Perhaps worse, the romance you are supposed to be rooting for, given it involves a gay guy dead set on being a victim in his desire to have a tragic unrequited love for his idiot straight friend, is problematic at best. 

On the plus side, a subplot about a young guy finding love and having to come out to his father because he joined the contest was sort of sweet, even if it made no sense (it didn't occur to the young man that joining an all gay contest would tip his father that he was gay).

While the movie spends far too much time making dumb gay jokes, once it settles down and begins to focus on the contest, it actually treats the contestants as "normal" characters instead of gay caricatures. Well, almost at least.  

So I guess depending on viewpoint it's either a fun non-depressing movie or it's not really worth watching. 

Women:

One

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No, though there are several men in skimpy swimsuit scenes. 

• Director: Jong-jong Yu
• Writer: not listed 
• Actors: TAE, Chen-Kang Tang, Yu Fa Yang 
• 90 min
• Cantonese
• IMDB 

The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho) (Brazil 2014)

The Gist: 

Leonardo (Leo) is a young blind teenager who is beginning to rebel against the restraints put on his life by his overprotective parents. Also, his relationship with his best friend Giovana is strained when a new classmate, Gabriel, enters their lives. 

Comments:

I pretty much loved everything about the movie, from story to actors, it is fun, romantic, and well, utterly and totally adorable. The movie is super cute. Which could mean utterly schmaltzy and corny, but luckily doesn't. While it is sweet and charming, it manages to not be too saccharin. 

It is also well acted. Ghilherme Lobo does a particularly good job at portraying someone who is blind. The way the movie is shot enhances this. Many scenes are primarily close ups or filmed so that things in the distance are blurred with only the immediate foreground in focus, recreating in a way the way Leo 'sees' the world. 

While the majority of reviews and articles I've seen about the movie are positive and glowing with praise, I have come across a couple of, if not entirely negative, at least not overly impressed comments. It seems some people felt it unrealistic because a few bullying classmates are 'merely' mean jerks instead of being physically violent. An opinion I don't agree with it. Bullying does not have to be physical and as is, some bullies are just common every day assholes who'd find it funny to make fun of their blind school-mate instead of beating him up. 

The movie is based on a short, I Don't Want to go back Alone (Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho) (2010). Based may not be exactly the best description since the short was apparently made as a sort of pilot to raise funds for the feature film. The short is essentially a simpler version of the story and if possible, even sweeter. 

Both are definitely worth seeing. 

Women: 

Yes

People of color:

Yes 

Gratuitous nudity:

Minor nudity, but what there is in my opinion straddles the line of gratuitous and natural. 

• Director: Daniel Ribeiro 
• Writer: Daniel Ribeiro 
• Actors: Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi, Tess Amorim
• 96 min
• Brazilian Portuguese 
• The American title, The Way He Looks, presumably references both that Gabriel is cute and how Leo "sees" the world.  It is not a literal translation of the original Brazilian Portuguese title, Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho. That would be something more like: "Today I Want To Go Back Alone," apparently referencing Leo's feelings of wanting to be independent.  
• IMDB 

Stud Life (UK 2012)

The Gist:

When 'Stud' lesbian JJ falls for femme fatal Elle, her life is thrown out of whack. As this goes on her best friend Seb makes poor choices of his own when it comes to men. 

Comments with a minor spoiler:

We are big time lesbian drama here, of the Stud variety. If you're unfamiliar with the term, a stud is essentially a very butch dyke.  More so, JJ is an uber butch, a stone butch. She is so butch that this source of strength for her becomes a weakness in that she ends up being overly rigid in life which is where the drama comes in,  as even though Elle is a femme and theoretically they should fit fine as a couple, it turns out that being with Elle may force JJ to be more flexible in her expectations of life and love. 

Despite being set in modern day London, the movie feels sort of oddly old fashioned. I'm guessing much of this comes from the strict Butch and Femme pairing, as if this were a 1950's period piece when it was survival tactic for a lesbian couple to only be a femme paired with a butch who could pass as a man if needed. 

This "old fashioned" interpretation of the movie is just me however, coming from my own biases, since JJ's world of strict butch / femme determination of roles is foreign to my experiences. The lesbians I know in real life joke about femme and butch rather than follow them as strict guides. Interestingly, to me at least, while I am unfamiliar with that aspect of the movie, another part, one where lesbians and gay men get to be best friends is totally in my realm of experience. One where queer women and men don't spend their lives isolated from each other (vs. how many 'gay' movies portray the world, as a place where queer men barely know any women at all let alone lesbians, let alone be friends with them). 

In the end the movie is okay for what it is, an average quality romantic melodrama.  

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes, much of the cast

Gratuitous nudity: 

Yes

• Director: Campbell X
• Writer: Campbell X
• Actors: T'Nia Miller, Kyle Treslove, Robyn Kerr
• 91 min
• IMDB

Scenes from a Gay Marriage (U.S. 2012)

The Gist:

A newly single man, Darren, obsesses over the gay couple who live in the apartment above his, as he tries to sort out his own life.

Comments with minor spoilers: 

This is kind of a low key movie. Which is not a bad thing. Compared to how "aggressive" some movies can be in telling their story, low key can be a good thing. Then again it can be bad if it leads to inaction and dullness. This movie manages to avoid that and keeps the balance of calmness and interesting. The acting is fine, and the story as Darren learns to live his life on his own, is engaging enough.

There is a strange bit though, in that being kept, where one partner in a relationship has all the money and power and "keeps" the other person, is oddly normalized here. A couple of examples are given in the movie and while they are not shown as ideal or particularly healthy, they are not treated as being unusual either. This happens again in another of director/writer/actor Matt Riddlehoover's movies: West Hollywood Motel, where one woman is "keeping" her girlfriend. 

While not the theme of the either movie, it ends up being notable because it contrasts strongly with how not common it is in real life. Well, at least in real life as I've experienced or have knowledge of it. 

Unlike other movies with the words "director, writer, and staring in lead role as actor" this is not a bad movie, and while I would not say that everyone has to immediately go see it, I would say that it is interesting and pretty good. 

Women:

One. It's a fairly limited cast, so not quite as bad it may seem

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Matt Riddlehoover
• Writer: Matt Riddlehoover
• Actors: Matt Ridlehoover, Jared Allman, Tashana McQuiston, Carson Nicely
• 83 min
• IMDB

The Four-Faced Liar (U.S. 2010)

The Gist:

Five college-age people, two straight couples and a womanizing lesbian meet in an Irish bar, not as the lead into a bad joke, but rather as the start of a romantic drama, where after becoming friends with the lesbian character, one of the straight women realizes that she does not have to live the life that was planned and laid out for her in excruciatingly exact detail from birth to wedding to death.

Comments (with one big semi-spoiler):

The one big semi-spoiler is this: (Possibly?) in order to make the protagonist seem less of a "bad person" for having an affair with her new lesbian best friend, the story has her boyfriend do some terrible things to help "accidentally" push her away from him. Which I only bring up because this creates a huge problem for me in that he crosses lines which should have made him a pariah in his circle of friends rather than just being treated as the poor guy whose girlfriend dumped him for a woman. 

Other than that, this is essentially a standard romance drama following many of the standard romance drama rules of people falling in and out of love, acting stupid, misunderstandings, and predictability before the couple you expect to end up together finally end up up together. 

Women:

Several (a good thing considering this is a lesbian love story)

People of color:

None. It seems New York City only has white people living in it

Gratuitous nudity:

Not really

• Director: Jacob Chase
• Writer: Marja-Lewis Ryan
• Actors: Marja-Lewis Ryan, Daniel Carlisle, Todd Kubrak, Emily Peck, Liz Osborn
• 87 min
• IMDB

World and Time Enough (U.S. 1994)

The Gist:

A gay couple, an HIV positive artist and his partner, an innocent minded garbage collector, live in occupied territory, that is the 'straight world,' as they deal with issues everyone faces, from love and life, to acceptance and death. 

Comments with minor spoilers:

The movie is very much a product of its time. Not so much the actual story which is a ‘universal’ tale of a couple dealing with love, acceptance, family and death, but rather the background of where this is taking place. These two men are not rich “white collar” gays living in a safe sequestered gay ghetto. Rather they live a ‘blue collar” life in the ‘regular’ world, occupied territory as it were, of aggressive heteronormality and enforced consumerism. The mere act of living together in a committed relationship makes their lives transgressive. Having one of the men be an HIV positive artist who specializes in short lived ephemeral art sculptures is another aspect of its time, of when AIDS was still considered a death sentence.

If it were re-set to now, the basic story would be the same, but the world they lived in would not. Consumerism will have won, and be worse in ways, but the fact of two men together, if not wholly and totally accepted, would at least not be too uncommon.  

All this aside, I like the movie, though it has several flaws. The device of interviewing one of the minor characters to serve as a narrator doesn’t really work and feels more awkward than useful. Another issue is that the movie feels lopsided as if it were actually two different not entirely complimentary stories lashed roughly together, a story of men in love followed by a tale of obsession (after the artist finds out his father has died). 

There's also the frankly awkward ending. The movie ends, then a couple minutes later ends again. One ending "artistic" and the other hopeful, which makes it seem as if there was a disagreement over how it should end so "they" just included both versions. 

Regardless of the problems, what does work is the idea that these two men are in love, both physically and emotionally. Going back to idea of the movie being a product of its time this is kind of a radical presentation. The early nineties were Hollywood giving us Tom Hanks as a ‘perfect’ gay man (meaning safely platonic and dying) in Philadelphia, while independent queer cinema was responding with a big F’ YOU to society with angry, suicidal, queer kids in Totally F***ed Up. This movie is neither extreme, neither safe nor enraged, but it ends up being more ‘real’ for this. 

Even with problems, it is worth seeing, though if you do, watch it to the very end.  

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes 

Gratuitous nudity: 

No

• Director: Eric Mueller
• Writer: Eric Mueller
• Actors: Matt Guidry, Gregory G Giles 
• 90 min
• IMDB